Good Interpersonal Skills Examples for Your CV +Definition

Interpersonal skills, or ‘people skills’, are a group of abilities that allow the clear flow of ideas and information; non-confrontational and effective cooperation; and general cohesiveness of individuals in groups. They’re critical to maintaining good relationships in the workplace and in our daily lives.

Computer programmers may get close, but most of us cannot have a career without constant interaction with other people. The basic ability of getting along with other people can yield a significant advantage in your career.

For some, it comes as their nature. Others have to learn carefully how to interact with others to obtain outcomes that are beneficial for everyone. Read on, and you’ll be an expert in understanding these skills and putting them to paper.

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Writing a skills list on a CV? You might want to see these guides:

• Active Listening Skills: Best Examples
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• Customer Service Skills for Customer-Oriented Roles
• Good Problem Solving Skills You Need
• Interpersonal Skills to Boost Your Candidate Profile
• Leadership Skills & How to Improve Them
• Project Management Skills & Key Examples
• Soft Skills That Will Better Your CV
• Time Management Skills Needed in 2024

Interpersonal skills on a CV example

Types of Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are a group of connected transferable skills that together make up your ability to get work done with people. They are much more than communication skills alone as they relate not only to the content of the message, but also to maintaining long-term workplace relationships. That's why these jobs skills are highly valued by employers.

Here are the key examples of strong interpersonal skills:

1. Active listening

There is only one way to build the two-way street of communication that every employee wants. Nobody likes only being told, without being listened to. Engaging with the conversation, extracting the crux of the issue and all the relevant information, is a skill beneficial to both parties. 

2. Empathy

Being heard, or listened to, sometimes isn’t enough. You also have to be able to put yourself in their shoes and try to understand their point of view, needs and feelings. Empathy is an important skill, especially in management, it allows you to become a friend, rather than a dictator.

3. Integrity

Your honesty towards others and yourself is a key factor in how you are perceived in the workplace. Being not only honest and open, but also willing to admit to mistakes makes you trustworthy and inspiring. Admitting to mistakes allows improving on them next time.

4. Ability to teach and mentor

Having a positive atmosphere in the workplace where everyone gets along makes for happy and productive colleagues and creates an opportunity to grow for everyone. The more capable and experienced employees should teach and mentor the new catches if there is to be sustained growth. 

5. Conflict management

By being assertive, respectful, and diplomatic, you must work to resolve both internal and external problems in a timely and productive manner. This limits the damage early, and avoids speed bumps. 

6. Leadership

Leadership and teamwork skills are closely linked. Effective leaders guide their teams, knowing when to step up and provide direction. They balance interpersonal skills to lead and motivate the team, especially during challenging times.

7. Receiving feedback

Being defensive and excessively prideful of your work hinders your ability to improve. Every piece of feedback is a teachable moment and allows progress to take place. Don’t sell yourself short by overly defending something others can see is imperfect. 

8. Giving feedback

The ability to give constructive feedback in a non-offensive manner is extremely valuable, especially considering that most people’s natural response is defence. Masterfully manoeuvring around this defence to secure progress for all is a skill that makes the best team leaders.

9. Tonality and body language

Sometimes, words can leave ambiguity and uncertainty behind. The tonality of your voice and body language give away more about your emotional attitude than words do, that’s why making sure they’re all consistent is important to make sure there are no misunderstandings.

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How to include examples of interpersonal skills on your CV

So how do we write ‘I’m a people person’ in a more effective way? The question: ‘how to write a CV?’ has a different answer depending on every industry and individual, but here is how to put those important interpersonal skills on your CV.

1. Start with your CV profile

A CV profile, also known as a CV summary, is the centrepiece that needs to be included in your CV. This quick round-up of the key facts about your strengths cannot be devoid of your examples of interpersonal skills—since it may be the only thing certain recruiters read. 

Interpersonal skills in the CV summary

2. List strong interpersonal skills in your job description

The core of your CV is the work experience section. This is the most space you will have to elaborate anything on your CV, which needs to be one-page in most cases. These CV tips should help with listing your interpersonal skills on the CV.

• Make a bullet point with each of the 9 basic interpersonal skills. Think of a real-world example of you using this skill and achieving a positive outcome. 
• Describe each situation, from problem to solution, quantifying with numbers where possible.
• It may be that you won’t have something for every bullet point. Some will be a little skint, so it will be better to combine them together. 
• Whatever you do, remember to skim the job posting carefully and focus on the exact components of interpersonal skills that your future employer asks for.
• List no less than 5 bullet points for your most recent job.
• Limit yourself to 3 bullet points for older positions, unless they are relevant to the new position.

Job description with interpersonal skills

3. Add an education section

If you’re writing a student CV, your CV education section will contain the most of the evidence for hiring you. That’s where leading or organising extracurricular activities can show your interpersonal skills. If you have work experience already, limit yourself to just a brief note of where you studied.

Interpersonal skills in the education section

4. Tend to your skills section

Your CV skills section is a tricky one. If you are in a more technical field which requires a lot of hard skills, this is probably where that longer list goes, and the focus on your interpersonal skills would have already been done.

If you don’t have many important hard skills to put on your CV, it may serve you to instead use this opportunity to reiterate the most important strengths you possess.

• Carefully analyse what exactly the employer is looking for in the job posting.
• Adjust your approach—new minor skills, or reiterating your strongest sides.
• It is better to elaborate with a couple sentences on 2-3 skills, instead of listing a jumble of 10 random ones.
• Make sure you tailor each CV to each position.
• Balance soft skills and hard skills. 

This particular skills section reiterates good interpersonal skills instead of adding random new ones.

Interpersonal skills in the skills section

5. Include additional sections

Making a CV perfect means not taking your eye off the ball until the end. Adding a hobbies and interests section is okay if what you’re including is somewhat relevant to the position. For interpersonal skills examples, it could be as simple as showing you get along well with others elsewhere.

Structure other sections separately for Languages, Certificates and Awards to make sure your CV is clean and skimmable.

Interpersonal skills in the extra sections

How to improve your interpersonal skills

Common wisdom would have it that interpersonal skills come naturally. But science proves they can be improved by training, and the more you practise them, the better you’ll become. So bearing that in mind, take a look at these tips for developing strong interpersonal skills.

1. Practise being empathetic

Being empathetic requires an active effort. Actively imagine how you would feel and respond if you were in the other person’s place. Pay attention to your colleagues’ emotional state, and never just ignore things if you see they’re experiencing negative emotions. Even in situations where your first response is negative, take the time to think about what caused the other person to act like that. Your interpersonal skills will improve as a result.

2. Develop your relationships with colleagues

Chances are, you’ll spend more time with your colleagues than you do with your friends and family members. Get to know them as people, take an interest in them, and find out what makes them tick. Building relationships helps make interpersonal interactions easier.

3. Become self-aware

Good interpersonal skills are also about being aware of yourself. Pay attention to how you feel when you have difficult interpersonal communications. Are you being reasonable? How could you do better? And get feedback from others too, they’ll often spot areas for improvement you can’t see yourself.

4. Be assertive

Note well, that’s assertive, not aggressive. Assertiveness means being able to be self-assured and speak up for yourself without being aggressive. It’s the sweet spot between being passive and aggressive, and doing it well lets you address your own needs while also respecting the needs of others.

5. Don’t interrupt

Apart from being disrespectful, interrupting actually interferes with the other person’s thought process, making communication more difficult. And butting in and talking over others isn’t likely to endear you to your colleagues. On the rare occasions you do need to interrupt, do so gently and with the utmost politeness.

6. Be aware of your body language

Non-verbal cues are arguably even more important than the words you speak. Really pay attention to your body language, avoiding gestures and poses that are closed or aggressive. Keep eye contact too and monitor the body language of others to see if they’re uncomfortable.

7. Pause before you react

This is especially important if your first reaction is to respond negatively. Don’t fire back an instant message or email immediately. Pause. Take the time to consider some of the other factors we’ve just discussed, and you’ll be more likely to give a reasonable and considered response.

8. Take note of others

Look for a colleague or manager with well-developed interpersonal skills. Someone who always seems to work well with others and does so confidently. Note what they do well in their interpersonal interactions, and adapt your observations to your own personal style.

9. Undertake training

Remember, interpersonal skills are trainable. We’d suggest you start with this accredited course in Communication and Interpersonal Skills. It’s FREE and has been selected by the Government for inclusion in their Skills Toolkit—which is chock-full of other opportunities to upskill too.

What else to remember when putting interpersonal skills on your CV?

If you’re wanting to improve your interpersonal skills, you may do so by consciously being more aware and identifying areas for improvement after interactions. Use our tips on how to improve them too and you can be confident of developing strong interpersonal skills.

And of course, use our guides to write a killer cover letter. Doing that gives you adequate room to let the recruiter know exactly what kind of person you are. A people person.

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If you’re still in need of more examples of interpersonal skills, or you just need some advice on how to include interpersonal skills in your CV, then let us know in the comments section. We’re here to help.

How we review the content at LiveCareer

Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.